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View Full Version : Printing your own postage stamps



jbb
June 20th, 2013, 06:06 PM
I had a credit with Zazzle.com so I splurged and had postage stamps made out of the oil pastel that is my avatar. Has anyone had stamps made? It's pricey (about twice as much as the stamp would normally cost) but fun.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7314/9097526540_efe05b64a3_b.jpg

Frank
June 20th, 2013, 07:43 PM
No, but sounds/looks pretty cool!

cedargirl
June 20th, 2013, 11:44 PM
They are sweet. I've always admired your avatar.
Where do you plan to use them?

earthdawn
June 21st, 2013, 01:02 AM
Well that really cool.

I had no idea you could do that.

Bookmarked the page for future use.

Thanks for sharing that... and yours came out great !!!

snedwos
June 21st, 2013, 05:29 AM
Saved for InCoWriMo...

jbb
June 21st, 2013, 06:50 AM
They are sweet. I've always admired your avatar.
Where do you plan to use them?

I will use them for snail mail.

KrazyIvan
June 21st, 2013, 08:25 AM
I will definitely be getting some for my penpal/incowri letters. Thank you for sharing!

jacksterp
June 21st, 2013, 08:57 AM
This is absolutely too cool. Love it!

cedargirl
June 21st, 2013, 04:31 PM
They are sweet. I've always admired your avatar.
Where do you plan to use them?

I will use them for snail mail.

Wow - I hadn't realised they were legal tender. I'm curious how they can prevent fraud.

jbb
June 21st, 2013, 04:49 PM
They are sweet. I've always admired your avatar.
Where do you plan to use them?

I will use them for snail mail.

Wow - I hadn't realised they were legal tender. I'm curious how they can prevent fraud.

My husband & I were just wondering about that too. Maybe people who write snail mail are just an upstanding lot. :) There is a tiny scanning code on the stamp.

Robert
June 21st, 2013, 04:54 PM
Very interesting. I will check the site and see what the "rules" are, i.e., can you use a photograph of someone (?). USPS has a rule that one has to be dead before having his visage grace an official USPS=-issued stamp.

cedargirl
June 21st, 2013, 05:31 PM
They are sweet. I've always admired your avatar.
Where do you plan to use them?

I will use them for snail mail.

Wow - I hadn't realised they were legal tender. I'm curious how they can prevent fraud.


My husband & I were just wondering about that too. Maybe people who write snail mail are just an upstanding lot. :) There is a tiny scanning code on the stamp.

It would be fairly easy to incorporate a scan into a fraudulent design, but I guess that could be done now by copying a normal stamp and who would bother for 46 cents.

... though I might be tempted for overseas stamps - I'd save a bomb! (just kidding :))

writingrav
June 21st, 2013, 08:46 PM
I used a photo of my granddaughter some years ago. No problem.



Very interesting. I will check the site and see what the "rules" are, i.e., can you use a photograph of someone (?). USPS has a rule that one has to be dead before having his visage grace an official USPS=-issued stamp.

Honey Mustard
June 26th, 2013, 09:46 PM
I had no idea this could even be done. It would be a great touch to print my own artwork on stamps when I send out promotional materials to clients.
Question: do you print them on regular old printer paper and then tape them to a letter? Do you think it would be feasible to print them on that ink-jet sticker paper?

cedargirl
June 26th, 2013, 11:10 PM
I would expect that you wouldn't be able to tape over them, because then the Postal Service endorsement wouldn't work. Maybe.

Honey Mustard
June 27th, 2013, 01:40 AM
I would expect that you wouldn't be able to tape over them, because then the Postal Service endorsement wouldn't work. Maybe.

Oh, yes, I didn't think about that. I always tape over pre-printed packaging labels to ensure they won't be effected by rain/dirt/who-knows-what. I'd be slightly worried something would happen to the stamps if they were just printed on printer paper. Though the tops of regular stamps are quite slick and glossy, so I wonder if tape would be that far of a stretch? Better to not risk it I suppose.

Honey Mustard
June 27th, 2013, 01:47 AM
Very interesting. I will check the site and see what the "rules" are, i.e., can you use a photograph of someone (?). USPS has a rule that one has to be dead before having his visage grace an official USPS=-issued stamp.

After reading this thread I went to see about printing some of my own, and browsed through the rulebook while I was at it. There are quite a few rules on what you can print. Mostly what you would expect, no copyright infringement, images of famous individuals, obscenities etc. But you may also not "Advocate or protest any social, political, legal, moral or religious agenda in a way that may appear controversial to others." And, let's face it, just about any stance on those subjects will be controversial to someone. So I wonder where they draw the line exactly.

jbb
June 27th, 2013, 06:47 AM
I had no idea this could even be done. It would be a great touch to print my own artwork on stamps when I send out promotional materials to clients.
Question: do you print them on regular old printer paper and then tape them to a letter? Do you think it would be feasible to print them on that ink-jet sticker paper?

My stamps were printed for me by Zazzle.com which doubled the cost of the stamps. Your question has made me wonder whether one can print custom stamps themselves and pay the USPS directly. Hmmmmm. Since it's possible to print one's own postage for all sorts of things now (Ebay, Etsy, etc.) maybe there's a way to do that. Then you could use a variety of papers and save money. :)

It looks like the USPS only does this through third party vendors:
https://www.usps.com/send/create-mail-and-postage.htm ... and all these vendors seem to have the same price.